Kyoukai no Kanata: I'll Be Here - Kako hen is the first part of the movie series. This part is a complete recap of the original anime series. It does a good job getting you up to speed as to what happened in the original series and is only dedicated to the events surrounding Kanbara Akihito and Kuriyama Mirai and doesn't indulge in side stories.

Story 9/10:
This is a really good summary of the original series. No new scenes are used. It reuses the scenes from the original anime to make this summary.
The story of Kanbara Akihito and Kuriyama Mirai is explained. It does not go
into the side stories like with the Nase Family, Inami Sakura and Fujima Miroku.

Art 9/10:
Since it uses the same scenes, it has no change in art. It's the same KyoAni which you've already seen. The artwork is amazing. Nothing more to say.

Sound 9/10:
Both the opening and the ending are really good songs. They are played near the end of the series.
The opening is played when Kanbara Akihito reaches Kuriyama Mirai when she is fighting Kyoukai no Kanata near the end of the movie.
The ending is played at the end and is a full version. It is played through the credits.
Voice actors are same.

Character 8/10:
If you haven't seen the original anime and watch this movie only, you'll miss out on many characters. As I said before, this movie focuses on Akihito and Mirai so the other characters get very little to no screen time. The only side character to have some play in this movie is Izumi Nase.

Enjoyment 8/10:
I loved the original anime and I liked watching the summary too. Even though it is a summary, some comedy bits are placed in it. And there are some emotional rides too.
It's a really good summary and for fans of the series, it is a good way to catch up and remember what happened.

Overall, I liked it. A heads-up, in the end of the movie, after the credits, they give a preview of the next part of the movie.

Oh man stay away from this one. I'm not gonna be fancy here, this is more of a quick PSA than an actual review, but I could not stand by and let my fellow MAL users subject themselves to Kyoto animation essentially ripping itself off.

I should say first though that I love the original Kyoukai no Kanata show and Kyoto Animation in general so I'm not really reviewing the show here. Its just that KyoAni can't seem to do well with its show-to-compilation-film adaptations (I'm looking at you too Chuunibyou compilation film, but that's another story for another day). Why they
feel the need to reinvent their existing works is beyond me.

Basically what we have here is the studio taking the original 12 episode series and cramming it into a sparse 120 min feature. The (many) small scenes that develop the characters in the original anime are mostly left out or completely removed in the movie, and the original show already moves blistering fast pace. We are then left with only the major plot events, and little to no context as to what's going on in the story or why we should care for our main dynamic duo.

I personally liked the series because of all the little nuances and goofy side humor that seasoned it, and the somewhat incomprehensible plot stood up for me because of how much I liked the characters.

So don't watch this wrung out version of Kyoukai no Kanata; it's like trying to eat an apple with no juice in it. Instead, watch the original series and give yourself the favor to THEN decide whether you like lolis with death weapons, siscons, 500 iterations of the word "Senpai" and all the other things that make this weird moe action combo meal a fun experience (or not).

The main thing about this movie is that, whilest watching it, it only made sense to me because I watched the original series (twice even because I like it so much).

A lot is left out, and yes, the main plot points are stuffed in there, but they're basically presented without context and a lot doesn't make sense at all if you haven't watched the original series.

I can't quite give a good opinion on the story/art/character development because of this. It just barely contains any that makes sense without the context of the series. Besides that, it occurred to
me that the movie looked like a literal edit of the series. I don't believe they've re-animated anything nor make it fancier (ex. how the Madoka movies were literally the series but with much better animation).

I don't want to completely bash this movie into the ground though, it just needs a little instruction I think?

Basically:
If you want to watch the movie because you watched the series, hell yeah! The great thing about the movie is that, the series was a while ago. If you want to go into the next movie I suppose you need the base the series/first movie shows otherwise you won't know anything about the world.

So, as a reminder of what exactly the series was about and who these characters were, I think this is a great thing, since you don't need to watch the whole series all over again.

HOWEVER,

If you want to watch the movie without watching the series first, I can strongly recommend against that. You'll miss out on tons of story and context and I'm sure a lot of things won't make sense to you since there's barely any worldbuilding in this.

I haven't watched the second movie yet, but I'm pretty sure the best way to watch and enjoy Kyoukai no Kanata is to watch the series, the first movie and then the second movie. This way, you won't miss out on anything, and if you are doing a marathon, you can even skip out on the first movie (though I'm not sure if the small fragment after the credits matters, because that IS new, contrary to the rest of the movie).

Either way, I'm not here to dictate people, and this is merely an advice ofcourse. If you enjoyed the series and you just need a thing to remind you what it all was about, this is a pretty great movie, since it takes away the need to watch the full series again.

If you're planning to watch this without having watched the series, I wish you good luck, because there'll be a lot of confusion ahead.

Kyoukai no Kanata Movie: I'll Be Here - Kako-hen is part one in a two part movie.

I am going to get straight to the point here... This movie is a recap of the 12 episodes of Kyoukai no Kanata, and if you have watched Kyoukai no Katana series recently, then you had may as well completely skip this movie and watch the second half which is the continuation after the episode 12 equivalent.

Back to the review.

I went into this anime just thinking it would be another addition to the Kyoukai I knew
and loved. For the most part I was disapointed, however I that is not to say I did not enjoy it.

Story - 3
Lets be honest. Compared to the series, this movie tried to cram 12 episodes worth into an hour and 20 minuets, completely omitting half of the series all together. The only reason I could hold the movie story together was my previous knowledge of the series (which I am again going to say is a must to watch).

Art - 9
It was great. Vibrant colours and well used cinematic scenes that made you think "My that looks beautiful". The characters are drawn in a style I like and the battle scenes do not hold back.

Sound - 7
Not a great deal to go off here to be honest. I did not notice much sound being used throughout, but when it was used, was clear, crisp and fit the scene perfectly.

Character - 4
I would have loved to put this higher because I know the characters have so much more going for them if you watch the series. But purely based off the movie, you hardly have time to learn about anyone other than your two main protagonists. And even then, you only learn very limited details about them. The movie does not give them enough time to blossom, as it seems to skip weeks or possibly months at a time. (Again due to the fact they crammed 12 episodes into one small movie)

Enjoyment - 5
Only reason I can say I enjoyed this is that it was a refresher as to what the series contained. For someone who has never seen the series before, or has no information about the movie, then I would estimate this score to be much lower than even a 5.

Overall - 6
Only thing I am going to put here is the movie does not do the series justice, and the only reason to watch it is to refresh yourself as to what happened in the series.

The second part of this two part movie however is hopefully going to improve dramatically.